All questions tagged Oliver Wyman interview - Consulting Q&A - PrepLounge.com

Dear John,

You absolutely shouldn't be worried. This is standard practice in some consulting offices and at the Big 4. It is usually a preliminary step before the first round of interviews, and usually takes place right before or after a numerical test (or at least that's the case at OW and the Big4).

These kind of tests (Psychometric Tests) help prospective employers gain insight into your personality, background, and psychological thinking, which in turn helps them determine your suitability for a particular position. They might also be helpful to you in that they might allow you to identify your strengths, abilities, and weaknesses.
There is no right way to answer a psychometric test: you must strive to answer all questions honestly and in the required amount of time. My only advice (but it's rather obvious) is to avoid giving answers that are self-deprecating, and to emphasise your ability to interact with people. Someone who presents themselves in the test as a shy, anti-social person risks not making the cut.

I have never heard anyone being rejected after taking a psychometric test, so I really wouldn't be worried. Good luck on the next steps!

It depends on the office, practice and the recruitment cycle. Usually takes about 2-3 weeks in the London office (if they haven't met their headcount target)

Got a similar case at McKinsey some time ago - I actually asked the same question here : https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/atypical-case-4501

Hi Anonymous,

I replied below to your questions:

1. So far that you have been invited, the case performance is the only thing that matters; this means that if you practice cases on the banking and insurance industries (likely to be present in the interviews) and develop a basic knowledge related to them you should be fine even if you don’t have an Economics/Finance background
2. You will likely get financial sector cases but not necessarily that only. I interviewed with OW FS and I got questions related to banking, insurance and market sizing, however I helped several other candidates for OW FS and they also got questions related to other sectors. For more information please feel free to PM, I have 15+ case questions they recently asked
3. Standard preparation similar to the one for MBB with a bit more focus on financial sector cases should be fine

Best,

Francesco

Hi it's pretty easy and similar to GMAT, dont expect to get done with everything, take your time and make sure to get every question that you do answer right, one right one wrong and you have 0 points, theyre equally weighted, so make sure you get all the ones you answer right I've done it twice now and passed both times; first time I only answered 12 questions or so last time I think I even did 16; dont get stressed at all by time

Hi George Philippe,

are you going to take Oliver Wyman's LShift Coding Challenge?

Best regards

Although I do not think there is a definition of an ideal consultant as diversity is an important element of an ideal consultant team, you can have a great idea about profiles by checking LinkedIn profiles of senior consultants at the company.

I went through the process for OW Dubai from Canada so happy to provide some perspective.

Post the numerical test, OW Dubai's recruitment process consists of three rounds.

For me the first two rounds were over the phone, conducted by Engagement Managers at the Firm. The format of these interviews is a mix of case and fit, with the case taking up the larger chunk of the interview.

The final round or "super day" is held at the Dubai office. OW would fly you in for a full day day of interviews. At this final round, I went through three rounds of interviewers: two Partner cases and one round with a Engagement Manager.

They usually get back to you with a decision either later that evening or the following day.

Hope that helps!

Hi,

I also interviewed with them in the past and received an offer. The most important thing, in addition to the usual ones (Why the Firm, Enthuisiasm, Why consulting...) is to give them a sense that you know what the Public sector environment in Middle East (especially Saudi Arabia, as they are working mainly there) is about.

So they may ask you some cases that involves the Vision 2030, the key priorities for Saudi, the Approach to Turism, which are the key sectors that they should consider to growth the economy, How much is important for them to differentiate by oil...

Give them a sense that you have made your research on the key macro economic problems and trends in Saudi/ Middle East and youll be in a good trajectory.

Hope this can help,

Cheers,

Luca

Hi Sophie,

The most important thing I would stress is to suppress the desire to answer every question. You often get less than a minute per question, and spending even a few seconds on a question that you are unsure about can hamper you in answering future questions. Therefore, it might be more advantageous to skip questions you are unsure about, thus ensuring you answered as many questions as possible correctly. I do believe there is negative marking, so this strategy works well.

In terms of questions asked, its quite standard to other numerical tests, plenty of percentages and GRE level math questions.

Hi Serdar,

a possible structure to analyze a balance sheet to identify problems and possible solutions could be the following:

1. Clarify the goal of the bank. The analysis of a balance sheet could be different according to the fact that the company is worried about revenues, costs or profits
2. Structure some macroareas of the balance sheet relevant for the goal. Guennael provided an example of such methodology with a division in assets and liabilities and long and short term - you may use others so far that your are MECE in your analysis
3. Structure possible reasons for problems in the different macroareas and formulate a hypothesis on which is the actual cause. Let's say you notice a lack of deposits. You may investigate the reason for the problem as potentially external (eg economic trend) or internal (eg lack of marketing for the products). Then you can formulate a hypothesis on which is the actual cause for it
4. Ask for information related to the hypothesis you formulated to verify it. Keeping our previous example, if your hypothesis is that there is an internal problem, ask if we have any information on any change that happened on the bank proposal for short-term deposits to its clients. If you verify this is indeed the cause, move to provide a solution, otherwise update your hypothesis.
5. Provide a solution to the identified problem. According to the specific issue you have found, you can lay down a solution structure (eg increase the number of customers for deposits or the amount per deposit).

Hope this helps,

Francesco

The case portion will be overweighted: you can move to 2nd round if you were just ok on the fit but amazin in the case; you'd go home if the reverse were true.

Nothing really specific about Oliver Wyman, you prep should be similar to other consultancies. Ultimately, every company really looks for the same perfect candidate anyway. Just be sure to review the mechanics of the case, knowing it will be slightly easier to move to a 2nd round than it would be at MBB. Cases are probably just as hard, with perhaps a higher likelyhood to get a market sizing portion.

As for the fit, standard questions: tell me about yourself, describe a time you face adversity, what are you proud of, how would colleagues describe you... The usual :)

Hi,

From what my AUB colleagues have told me at OW Dubai, you will take part in a combination of:

1) Case interviews (with seniority progressing through the days)

2) Networking events (e.g. dinner, interactive presentations)

Feel free to message me if you have any specific questions, best of luck!

Hi Louay,

In addition to Vlad's contribution, I can offer the following advice based on my experience with OW Dubai and London:

1. Prepare for brainteasers - these seem less frequent recently, but are still common amongst interviewers
2. Take the initiative and provide precise quantative answers - OW interviewers will frequently ask for precise results (e.g. to 3 decimal points), rather than for approximate figures
3. Demonstrate the firm's value proposition to you - solid reasons why OW stands out to you will go a long way (e.g. positioning in Financial Services, flexible Global Staffing Model, growth rate)

Feel free to reach out offline if you have any specific questions on the firm or the geography you are applying to. Best of luck!

Hello,

I would argue that the Oliver Wyman numerical and verbal reasoning tests are some of the hardest out there - both in terms of difficulty and time pressure (based on my experience from the recruitment process for the London office).

It's also worth noting that the style of the OW tests differs significantly compared to other companies (particularly the numerical reasoning test). The best examples I've seen online of typical questions can be seen here:

https://skukre1.wordpress.com/2011/03/06/oliver-wyman-numerical-reasoning-test/

Several questions very similar to those shown in the link above came up during my assessment, so do make sure to complete and understand each question as part of your preparation - just in case!

Hope that helps and good luck.

Best,

Harri

Hi,

the presentation case is not too different from normal case interviews except that you present your solution at once in front of a small panel. Approach the case as you would do with other cases, focus on the most important messages and be prepared to discuss why you chose a specific approach to solve the case.

The important part is that you show confidence when it comes to presenting your solution - your interviewer wants to see that you 1) prepared, 2) thought about your logic and 3) are able to defend your solution.

Hope this helps

Dorothea

Hi,

You should expect both transportation and generic cases. But definitely makes sense to read about transportation. The best resources for transportation knowledge will be:

1. Annual reports of the transportation companies (select the top ones)
2. Monographies (e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Transportation-Global-Supply-Chain-Perspective/dp/1133592961/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1524519506&sr=8-2&keywords=transportation)
3. HBS cases about these industries

Best!